Where are lobbyists for food stamps?

There’s a $100 million federal project out there, waiting for takers.

It’s not money for a veterans memorial, a battleship or a tunnel to Coronado. ﻿It’s not money for a bridge or a train or a highway. If it were, lobbyists would be elbowing each other out of the way for it, and politicians would be lining up for photo ops.

No, this $100 million is for Grape-Nuts. Or Malt-O-Meal. Or whatever the poor among us choose to spend it on, foodwise.

That amount of money — and more, sometimes — is what advocates for the poor say we lose in San Diego County every year because our enrollment in the federal food-stamps program is so low. Only 35 percent of eligible residents got the benefit last year, meaning the rest of the money stayed out of our county.

That’s been the case every year, for years now.

The county says it’s trying to make improvements in how it gives out food stamps, but it also needs to remain vigilant in its efforts against waste, fraud and abuse.

Critics say that focus makes the system too tough and makes applicants feel like losers, hence the poor participation, the worst among 24 major metropolitan areas, according to the Washington, D.C.-based Food Research and Action Center.

That group put together the estimate of money left sitting on the table recently.

$100 million?

Let’s load up the shopping cart.

If all that money were actually spent, it would cause a ripple effect, boosting the economy, said George Manalo-LeClair of Oakland-based California Food Policy Advocates.

You would need more supermarket clerks. Farmers would produce more, to handle the demand. Trucks would fire up, to move the goods. The drivers would get paid.

Manalo-LeClair’s agency estimates that the true economic loss to San Diego — including these secondary missed opportunities — was greater than $200 million last year.

The last time the Super Bowl was played in San Diego, in 2003, the economic impact from that was pegged at $367 million.

So we’re missing, like, half a Super Bowl worth of economic might.

Every year.

So who would be a good ally in going after this money? How about grocery stores? After all, you can’t go to the tire store with food stamps.

Well, I spent some time this week trying to enlist their help — or at least to understand why they aren’t going after it themselves.

They don’t want to appear greedy, they say.

While the industry would welcome more food-stamp users, “actively pursuing, even from a lobbying standpoint, sends the wrong message,” said Dave Heylen, spokesman for the California Grocers Association.

The most recent fundraising statements for San Diego County Supervisors Ron Roberts and Bill Horn — both of whom are facing re-election — are full of contributions from developers, builders, lawyers, consultants, engineers, architects, Realtors, contractors, brokers, accountants …

A meat cutter, anybody?

Food stamps are a reliable economic boost, advocates say. That’s because people use them. That’s because people who are hungry have no reason not to.

It’s why the Obama administration pumped an additional $20 billion into the food-stamp program as part of last year’s stimulus package.

Their use frees up money so people can buy other things, such as clothes, which are taxable, which ends up helping everybody.

That means me, you and even politicians who think the food-stamp program is a government giveaway (not a noble concept to help our most needy land a decent meal) get a benefit.

More retailers, such as Costco, are beginning to accept them because, in part, more people are using them in the downturn. It makes good business sense.

But Costco won’t be lobbying the government to sign more people up for food stamps.